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Wayne Smith | May 21, 2009
Article from: The Australian
THE Australian Rugby Union in late 2005 promised the Victorian Government it would negotiate exclusively with Melbourne for the city to be awarded a Super rugby team in any expansion of the competition.
The letter, from the then chief executive of the ARU, Gary Flowers, to Dr Peter Hertan, chief executive of Sport and Recreation Victoria, was sent in the strained aftermath of the ARU's controversial decision to award the Super 14 licence to Perth ahead of Melbourne.
In it, Flowers strongly indicated that if the Victorian Government went ahead with plans to build the proposed rectangular pitch stadium at Olympic Park, Melbourne would be its candidate to host a new team when the competition was enlarged in 2009 or 2010.
The stadium is nearing completion but Melbourne now finds itself locked in a three-horse race with the Gold Coast and a newly revealed Sydney consortium to be chosen as the ARU's candidate for the new team when Super 14 expands to Super 15 in 2011.
Flowers resigned as ARU chief executive in 2007, to be replaced by John O'Neill, but the commitment to the Victorian Government was one very much made by the organisation, not the individual.
"(The) ARU has already publicly stated that Melbourne is well-equipped and capable of hosting a successful Super franchise," the letter stated. "We have strong ambitions to build a fifth team to compete in the next iteration of Super 14 from 2011. Although this aspiration requires us to persuade our SANZAR partners and our own board of its merits, and of course requires financial, commercial and player sustainability, it is the ARU management's view that Melbourne has an absolutely outstanding opportunity to be the location of such a team.
"Without compromising the need to build financial support for the team, it would be our intention at the appropriate time in 2009 or 2010 to negotiate exclusively with Melbourne for hosting such a team if such opportunities arose."
Seemingly the "appropriate time" has now arisen following the decision of last week's SANZAR summit in Dublin to proceed with the planned expansion to a Super 15 in 2011, with the new team to be based in the Australian conference.
The Victorian Government declined to comment on the apparent "if you build it we will come" commitment in the letter when contacted by The Australian yesterday, but Sports Minister James Merlino was upbeat about Melbourne's candidacy.
"Melbourne is the perfect fit for a new team, particularly with the iconic $267million rectangular stadium soon to be completed," Merlino said.
Whether the new ARU administration under O'Neill believes itself bound by a 2005 commitment remains to be seen. But certainly what has changed is the ownership model the ARU now has in mind, with O'Neill wanting to bring in private equity.
The Victorian Government has no intention of buying into any new Melbourne team and believes that it already has done more than enough to support rugby by building the rectangular stadium and providing the Victorian Rugby Union with offices there.
VRU chairman Gary Gray said his organisation already was in discussions with corporate Melbourne about private backing for a Super 15 team but he, like the man heading up the rival Gold Coast consortium, Terry Jackman, is unsure how the ARU intends private equity involvement to work.
Jackman, meanwhile, will meet with Gold Coast Rugby Union chairman Murray D'Almeida and chief executive Tim Rowlands tomorrow to finalise its bid team, having already secured the support of Gold Coast mayor Ron Clarke.
And in a new development, former Sydney Kings chief executive Gary Hudson and Tony Hay, the former chairman of the Western Sydney Regional Council, have been identified as the key figures behind the Sydney-based Super 15 bid.
Meanwhile, barely has SANZAR come through the acrimonious process of agreeing to an expansion to a Super 15 conference structure, than it has come to light the it has already discussed a Super 18 in 2013, with Japan providing two of the three extra teams.
It is understood there are future plans to add a fourth Atlanta Conference, involving teams from Argentina, Uruguay, the US and Canada.
Additional reporting: Peter Kogoy
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html